My local dragway...peh

Richmond Dragway to be exact.( VA ) I'm pretty sure this isn't only an occurance at my lo-cal but many of yous-guys local drag strip;

Today was the last street-night of the year. The place is going to be packed, and I know it, but not to bad. So I show up 15min before the gate is to open ( 5:00pm ) to beat the crowd. I'm kinda stoked 'cause I get to see what my s2k will do in decent wether, with a fresh AEM intake, and some sticky tires. The extremely hot weather and dirty filter in the stock intake were definitly handicaping the car last time I ran ( ET; 14.32 ). Me, my uncle and his s-10 were in line with about 3 other cars that were waiting to get in.
Tick tick..... the clock went to 5:15 and I'm irrate because I was watching the track officials chit-chatting it up over in the tech lanes. My outrageous uncle goes ape shit on the fence until one of them opens the gate. The waiting line has grown from 5 to about 25. Finally get in and people are rushing tech inspection. No problem... I'll go tech-in and by the time they're done with me the staging lanes will be open. 6:00 rolls around and they havn't announced staging yet. The place is starting to fill up. As soon as the loud speaker crackles on I made a bee-line for my staging lane. The cars piled in behind me and 2 other guys I was waiting with at the gate. 8 1/2 lanes wide ( 1/2 lane for bikes). Wasn't long before the lanes were packed front ot back, side to side. 6:15 they told us to stage ( another 45min). Track officials fall into they're respective places and get the show rolling. Second set of cars. BANG! An old nova dumps its rear diff. parts/ fluid from 60ft mark to the 1/8th. Takes 3 guys 20 minutes to clean it up. The Super Street class runs through. Street class starts, One wreck, one drive shaft, and countless cars dumping something on the track. Mostly american junk breaking. People are still pouring in. My car sat so long waiting for the Compact sport class to run it got stone-cold and I was in the second race in this class. Cold F20= No v-tec. I luckily got warmed up in time to heat the tires. RT .233 ET 14.103 at 95mph. Not shabby for the first run of the night.
Everything snowballed from there. The money hungry owner at the gate was letting people pour in until the staging lanes for ALL classes were rapping back around to the return lane! Needless to say I didn't get another run until 9:04.The track is cold. My tires are cold. I am cold and pissed off, but I'm not the only one. 14.21 at 99mph (didn't hook). It cost me $15 to race twice, same for my uncle. But he was twice as pissed, having a truck built specifically for the track that he can't even run. Fuck this place. Just when shit can't get any worse. People start barreling for any open stagging lane besides they're assigned ones. Complete pandomonium. The SS guys are going off cuz they're lanes are stunk up with cars that don't belong there. The track officials allow it. People complain and are dismissed. People are still being let in. I can't get out of the parking lot. I had a better chance of getting out of grid-lock from the passing lane then leaving this place. Finally get out and the police are at every intersection stopping anything making more noise than usuall. I snake through un-scathed. Lucky break of the night. I get half way home and the one'time comes out of nowhere and stops me.
" Do you know why I stopped you?" "No sir" " I heard your car from a mile away, is there some reason your car needs to be so loud?" The snowball keeps rolling. My car is teched all over agian. Carb sticker on intake. I just smiled. Carb sticker on exhaust. Bigger smile. Stock cat. I'm all teeth. " Do you have any weapons in the car or on your person?" " Yeah, There's a 9mm pistol in the trunk " I get a disgusted look for him and he pops my trunk. Unloads both of my clips in the floor of the trunk and puts them back in my gun/holester. " Is there a reason you carry a gun in your car?" " Protection" " From what?" "Thugs........are we finished here officer?!?!" ' I believe so...." He hands me my License/registration and tells me to have a safe night.

I should be paid for as hard as I was rode tonight.
If you live in VA STAY AWAY FROM Richmond Dragway. Fucken scoundrills.

it was the same way last time i drag raced at New London Dragstrip (its near Lynchburg, VA). hell the domestic owners didnt like the fact that i had my Honda Civic up there and racing. yes, alot of people came by and checked out my car in the pit to check it out. i only ran it twice that day because i got tired of the sneers that i kept getting. ahh well.

since you are in Richmond and are close to Dinwiddie, ever go to Dinwiddie and race? thats a really awesome drag strip!!

Atleast you have a strip near you, CT has nothing. A couple hour drive sucks, especially when you break down on the way home. Damn distributor on my Civic. After the swap in my truck I will want to take it up to see what it does but the fear of breaking down on the way home again is there. For the drag racing haters, I would love to auto-x my truck but even after I do the suspension work I still can't auto-x it. I wish I never sold the crx or the 95 civic then I could do some racing.

^_^ I know but VIR is like 2 1/2 hours away. There is a back way to take there that has a good amount of twisties though.

Bodydrop; Virginia Motorsports Park is a 45min trip from my crib. I normally only go out there if theres a big event. Their track has like a 1/2 mile shut-down on it. It takes to long to get back to the stage lanes for me but it is a great track. If you can't hook-up at Dinwidie, your car won't hook anywhere!

I talked to one of the regulars at the dragway today. He says the cop number DOUBLE after I left. He said one guy was spraying his intercooler with a windshield squirter-rig and was dripping all over the start line so they told him to get off the track, he says the guy dumped the clutch and took off down the track anyway. He says some of the bike guys were getting kicked out for doing wheel-stands down the track. People are out of control now-a-days.

Hey at least I squeaked a 14.1 out of it. I can't believe I picked up 2 tenths from an intake and cool weather on the FIRST run i did that night.

boostedf22; You know how far dinwiddie is away. I don't have a trailer to tow my shit back if it breaks and I damn sure ain't payin' someone to bring it back. Plus their street nights start later and end sooner than RD's. By the way... I've only seen like 2 accords racing there all summer and I know one of the cars fairly well and the other one wasn't boosted. You not running yours?